Fate
by XxLonelybeeXx
Summary: "How would you feel!" I screeched, staring through eyes blurred with tears, at the surprised faces of the rest of the flock. "If you were separated from Angel, Max? Or if Gazzy was separated from Iggy?" "Are you kidding me?" Max scoffed, stepping forward. "You are so vain! He was my heart! Iggy's bestfriend! What was he to you?" "He was my soul," I whispered. (FAX/fudge)
1. The beginnings

**Hi, this is a long ass chapter, I know. It's important to the story though to tell how Nudge and Fang first met, and developed their deep relationship is so I didn't hold back. In this they are initially 4 years old (fang) and one year old (nudge) I did the math and everything so, yea. At the end they are zero (angel), two (Gazzy), five (nudge), eight (Max, Iggy, Fang). I like reading with details like that so I thought I would include it.**

Fang uncurled his legs, sighing in contentment. He had no idea what he had done to deserve such a reward but did nothing to question it. He was resisting less than usual, not wanting to end up like the bruised and broken blonde-girl resting beside him. She always fought, even when they were giving her food and water. Compared to her, Fang felt like a sissy. He rebelled as best he could but didn't hold a candle to the resilience she showed daily. His newly exchanged medium-sized cage had enough room for him to stretch his legs! Not completely of course, but it was a lot better than the back-breaking curled position he'd had to endure in his previous extra small. As he began to doze, he heard a "Psst!" from the cage next to him.

"I wouldn't be so smug if I were you," Max began, a cocky grin lighting up her bruised face. "I heard they're doing budget cuts."

Fang had no idea what that meant, and shrugged his shoulders, allowing his confusion to show on his face.

"Heck if I know, but it has cuts in it, doesn't it?" Fang nodded understandingly as he hated being cut as well, before turning over and staring at the empty cage next to him. His friend, Iggy, usually occupied that position but he'd been gone all night. He'd noticed several experiments around him disappearing lately, and hoped Iggy wasn't getting budget-cuts done to him too. Maybe that's why there were less kids now-a-days.

Suddenly, he heard a eardrum shattering, glass breaking shrieking began. He groaned before sharing a look of annoyance with , they had gotten a new experiment who screamed and wailed all day long. It was obviously an infant because hardly anyone else, not even Iggy, was that much of a sissy. Briefly, he hoped that the baby would get the budget-cuts instead of Iggy at least t,hey'd be able to sleep. He guiltily banished the thought from his subconscious. No kid deserved to be hurt, he thought firmly. The baby was at least two sections away but he heard it clearly from where he was placed. He noticed with alarm that the screaming was getting louder, closer. Were they moving it closer to his section? Oh no. They were hardly getting enough sleep as it was.

Two annoyed whitecoats stormed into the hallway, carrying a small, coffee colored bundle. And it was screaming. They stopped in front of Iggy's empty cage.

"Finally, put it here!"

"No way, it'll die alone. We need this specimen. We should really put it back in the nursery."

"You read the report. It's disturbing the other subjects. It has to be put here."

"This cage belongs to #4449 anyways, so what do we do, kill it?"

"Yea, like we can afford that. This cost us so much. We'd have to sneak and do it."

Fang's heart skipped a beat at the thought. Of course the baby was annoying, but to kill it! That was cruelty. He began to feel even more upset as he noticed that with her Coffee brown skin, Wide doe eyes, and crinkly tufts of hair, she was kind of cute. As he looked upon her naked body, seeing several ribs poking out and noticed that she was violently shivering. Fear gripped his heart for the baby. No wonder she cried, she was being treated horribly.

"Here!" Fang desperately yelled. "Dr. Batchelder said that it was supposed go here." They were probably going to end up killing the poor girl no matter where they placed her. He'd sat aside complacently as several experiments were butchered and killed. But she had tawny little feathers sprouting out her back and he would not let down one of his own. She was an aviation-hybrid just like the two of us!

For a long, horrible moment, he believed that the Whitecoats would simply ignore him. He noticed that Max was staring at him, shock evident on her face. With a start, he realized that this was the first time he had ever truly spoken. He was sure that the doctors and intelligent experiments thought that he couldn't. The doctors eyes widened as they almost dropped the screaming child in their attempts withdraw their voice recorders and notebooks. They were muttering,writing furiously, whispering among themselves.

"#3264 can speak!" One muttered.

"Witkowski owes me money. I knew it was coherent! We need to test it's brainwaves immediately."

Iggy was carried into the room, unconscious and with several stitches along his forehead. The Whitecoats were forced to step aside with so he could be placed in his cage. Making an executive decision, one of the men injected me with a needle of green stuff. Immediately my eyes began to droop, but I held on longer. Forcing myself to watch. The White Coat holding the girl flung her in my cage, hitting her head against the bars, and making her erupt into even louder screams.

Fang smiled, a real one, for the first time ever. He knew the baby would not be killed. That made it all worth it. He fell into the darkness.

Almost an entire day later, he awoke, his head throbbing. He gingerly tried to move only to realize there were stitches in the top of his head and it was now shaved. He emitted a low groan, as pain from his head hit him in waves, and tears slid down his cheeks. What had they done to him? Budget cuts? He realized with a start that he was now back in his cage. Panicking, he searched frantically for the baby he so desperately wanted to save. Did they come back for her? He felt a small nudge in his back. He froze, felt it again.

Swiveling, he found the child tucked tightly against his back, huddled in a corner. She was sleeping, her faint breath coming out in wheezes, and her bony leg twitching against his spine. Fang gathered her in his small arms, studying her troubled, gaunt face as she dreamed. Suddenly her eyes opened, revealing wide brown eyes that locked on his onyx ones. He almost began to smile when her face crumpled. She was screaming again, and he heard curses from both Max and Iggy as they were woken up from sleep.

His pulled off his grubby t-shirt, wrapping around her to stop her shiverings. She quieted slightly but not much. He tried rocking her, as he had seen the nice Whitecoat, Jeb, do once before. Her screams dissipated to restless whimpers and his friends beside him sighed in relief before curling up to resume their slumber. Now he was shivering with the cold, left in only the matching tan pants that covered each experiment. Somehow, the baby had ended up without either.

For the first few months of their time together, the baby cried more often than not but as she became used to him, his gentle touches, his quiet demeanor, she cried less and less. He gave her his food, and she transformed from a tiny skeleton, to an almost healthy looking child. In comparison, he began getting sick more often from being underclothed, and underfed. Eventually it began effecting Fang's data and results and they were given enough food and clothes for the both of them. Every time he was given a potty break (twice a day) he took the child with him and cleaned her up before he was escorted back to the cage.

The two children developed a routine, and stuck to it for almost a year. Living together, comforting each other. Whenever Fang was taken for a test, the baby would scream until he was brought back, and the relieved child would curl up in his often unconscious lap. The child began calling herself Nudge due to his constant mutter of, "Stop nudging me," as they curled up at night. She slept awful even then. Max adored the child, and Nudge brought out a side of her that he couldn't help but marvel at. Who knew this fierce girl could turn so..._soft!_ In his care, the crying wailing nuisance transformed into a giggling, constantly smiling nuisance. When she turned two years old, the whitecoats believed that they were both growing too fast to share a cage any further, and fearing to stunt any possible growth, separated the two. After a week of nonstop crying on Nudge's part, and Fighting for Fang, Iggy and Nudge switched cages. That being said, he now was in the middle of Nudge and Max with Iggy across from him. The budget-cutting (he finally knew what it was) actually ended months prior to the move, they received funds from a new donor, but Fang and Nudge were allowed to stay together to avoid any extra hassle. Realizing the success of having one experiment care for another, not to mention it saved money, Max was given Gazzy to take care of, to all of our disdain, and he was moved next to Iggy when Angel arrived two years later. And thus, the flock was reunited. They bled, cried, laughed, and grew together in The School. They were experimented on, tested, and abused their limits when finally Jeb Batchelder saved them from the school.

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**Hiii! I really hoped you liked this! It's been a few years, and I'm changing the plot and everything about this story but keeping the same name. I took a break from FF, to grow in my writing, so I hope its noticeable. AGAIN, I am changing the story but it's under the same name and has the same general theme to it so hopefully not to much of a change for any old readers who find it. ANYWHO!**

**Please review! I would like that very much and tell me if it was too long, not long enough, too rushed, not rushed enough, that sorta thing. Too many details, too little details just whale it all on me because I really wanna hear from you all and see if its good or not. Next Chapter will include a full summary, as the one on the cover is pretty vague to the plot. I wanted to include this first so no one would get any false Ideas before beginning to read it. If you want a response to your review or have any questions, please PM me and I'll get back to you all there. **


	2. Summary

**SUMMARY BELOW!**

Total: Hello, everyone! Welcome to my talk show, Total Time! I'm your host-

Me: Excuse me…

Total: Oh..uh, didn't see you there. I was just..I mean I wanted to-

Me: (Menacing Voice) This is my show…

Total: Yea, pshh, of course it is! I just was wondering if maybe I could host it..

Me: HAHAHAHAHAH

Total: Oh come on! It's not fair...you always do it. And you get the chance to write the story so…

Me: It's not as if I own it!

Total:Yea..but…It's only fair.

Me: OH gosh you're so whiny. FINE! HOST IT!

Total: As I was saying, I'm total! Today we'll be giving a brief summary on the mystery, romance, deceit, and adventure to come! When Fang leaves the flock with only one sentence from a Max-lovin' heartfelt letter saying "tell the others I say bye," Nudge knows that something is wrong. Fang has been there for her ever since she could remember and for him to suddenly disappear...something MUST be wrong. Is Nudge disillusioned? Is she making up stories to distract her grieving mind and accept the fact that their bond was totally one-sided? Or is she the only one who can save Fang and the entire world, from their doom?

Me: Wow...that was pretty thorough.

Total: Of course it was...I'm flipping amazing.

Well, there it goes! That's the full summary. Hopefully it's interesting enough to keep you guys reading! I know it was awkwardly buried in that long scene but in my previous version of this story, I always started my chapters out with a short scene (way shorter than that one up there) between Total and I. So, I'll start doing that and if its too dumb, cheesy or annoying just tell me in your reviews and I'll stop :). Review, Favorite or PM me!


	3. Cage to Grave

**I know we had a flashback last chapter too, but I just enjoy writing about young Nudge and fang. This chapter takes place a week after Jeb saves the flock from The School. Ages: Angel (3), Gazzy (5), Nudge (8), Iggy, Max, Fang (11).**

* * *

He was dead. Blood coated his thick dark hair, seeping through the poorly done stitches zig-zagging the circumference of his head. He was still shirtless from when he'd lent it to her the night before seeing her shiver, and his olive-toned face and upper body was covered in fresh purple bruises. The flat-lining heart monitor seemed to grind and scratch at her ears, and she was surprised that something as small as that could bother her at a time like this.

She thought of his soft, barely there whisper the night before. So quiet even the sensitive-eared Iggy hadn't heard. Forever. He was a liar. Despite the several whitecoats in the room recording her actions, she allowed a tear to slip down her face. She could already hear his quiet disappointment. Never let the bastards see you sweat, he whispered in her ear.

With a start, nudge realized that the reason she hadn't yet started screaming as Max, Iggy and the rest of the flock were, had not barfed or fainted or fought as the tranquilized max had done, is because she was dead. Fang was her soul, and without her soul, she was nothing. She stared, and allowed silent tears to stream down her face out of spite for a gentle promise broken.

Forever. Her world began to rock, swaying back and forth. The heart monitor became a loud pulse, matching the quakes of the world shrilling, "Nudge, Nudge, Nudge."

Nudge bolted awake, taking in her new and unfamiliar surroundings. She was in a room, lying on a soft bed with the flock's faces peering worriedly in a halo around her bed. She tried to speak, wincing audibly at the pain in her sore throat. She must've been screaming.

Big, brown eyes welled with tears, and unlike the dark dream, she cried readily, alligator tears staining her new, pretty comforter. In an instant fang was by her side, and she flung herself onto him. His onyx eyes seemed to stare into her heart, seeing the dream as if through her own eyes. Catching his hint, Max assumed her usual role and ushered the children back to their own beds, carrying angel with her. Max gave fang a look, which he returned, and shut the door.

During the exchange, Nudge's hysterical cries only increased until she was almost hyperventilating with her remembrance of the pale and dead Fang, lying on the school's lab table.

"Shh, I'm here," He soothed, squeezing next to her on the twin sized bed. "Forever."

She sobbed louder at the broken promise of the dream, and his thick eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Forever always worked, he thought.

"You-you said forever before you left but (hiccup) it wa-wasn't forever becau-cause you we-were dead!" She wailed through her tears.

Understanding filled his features, as she recounted her entire dream, from the flock seeing him and going beserk, to her empty feelings at his death. His face was more serious than she'd seen it since Jeb has saved them from The School last week.

"I'll never leave you, Nudge." He whispered sternly. "Not for anyone or anything. Forever means forever."

"But what if you die?"

"Then I live on right here." He said, poking her in the center of her chest.

"But what about Max?" She blurted, unable to hide the growing feelings of jealousy inside her. "You like her better than me, I know it. She calls you her best friend and talks to you more than even Iggy and angel. Even in the school, when our cages were together, you spent all your time with her and ignored me completely. It's not fair! Why can't-"

"Tone it down, Nudge Channel." He said with a laugh. A frown coated her chubby cheeks, as a smile, an actual smile, bloomed on his face. "That's what you're worried about? Max is my best friend. Forever. But I saved you and you saved me, too. So, that means what again?"

A blush coated her cheeks, and a smile of her own began to form through her tears, "We're connected."

"By?"

"The soul." She said, unable to hold back her wide grin. "Because we saved each other. The white coats were gonna kill you 'cause they thought you were dumb, and they were gonna kill me 'cause I was loud."

"Exactly."

"You are kinda dumb," Nudge teased, her brown eyes sparkling with mischief.

"You are very loud." He retorted with a snort, and began to tickle her until Jeb came in and told them to go to bed. Angel was placed back in her crib, and Fang went back to the room he shared with Max, unable to hide the lingering laughs at Nudge's disdain for tickling. At her questioning, he simply rolled over and dove beneath the covers, returning to his comfortable life of silence. It seemed whenever he was around nudge, he ended up talking more than he'd like. Drifting to sleep, he positioned his pillow at the base of his spine, replicating the position he and nudge took in the cage back when she was a nameless, crying infant nudging into his spine. Sometimes, he liked to remember the feeling. She was right, of course. He spent way more time with Max than her now, the older girl and he simply had more in common. But she would always hold a special place in his heart.

"Forever," He whispered before drifting back to sleep.

Right before he lost consciousness, Fang thought he heard her whisper in return. Impossible, he thought to himself and relinquished himself to sleep.

"Cage to grave" she seemed to say.

(Present Time)

Silence lingered in the air. Not a comfortable silence, like the kind she and fang shared on the cliff. Where the caws of the great hawks and the lingering taste of dark chocolate said more than she could ever hope to. No, this silence was lost. And the emptiness in the air only amplified the confusion she felt inside.

The long pause was finally broken by a sniffle from Max. She crumpled the letter, expression hidden by her long bangs. Her shoulders began to shake and finally, she let out a great sob. It served as a trigger for the rest of the flock as Iggy began cursing, wrapping his arms around the inconsolable Max. Gazzy and Angel joined Max in her somber choir, voices raising to a wail.

Nudge stood still as night, somber as silence, as her mind worked rapidly to conjure up an explanation for the events that had just occurred.

Fang left Max. Fang left Max.

She was his heart, his other half, and whatever other mumbo jumbo he spewed in that schmancy letter of this was not what concerned Nudge. Afterall, their relationship was not perfect and they were bound to experience turbulence some time or another. No, what weighed down Nudge's heart was a far greater concern.

Fang left me. Again.

We were supposed to be connected. We were supposed to share a soul. Forever Fang and Nudge, from cage to grave.

Nudge began to tremble, shaking her head in denial as she marched determinedly towards Max, who had chased after the letter and now held it tightly to her chest. The other flock members had each wrapped their arms around her, making a blanket of comfort and protection.

Nudge felt as if someone had unplugged her heart, and paid no mind to her broken family, sobbing on the floor. Almost robotically, she shoved Gazzy aside, snatched the letter from Max and skimmed it where she stood, ignoring the rise of protests.

"Nudge give it back," Max began, confusion halting her sobs. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing is addressed to me," Nudge said, confusion evident in her features. "This whole letter is about you."

"What?!" Max shrieked, her grief quickly morphing to anger. "Fang was my boyfriend, the love of my life, of course his letter is addressed to me."

Nudge refused to take the bait and engage Max in a fight. She rationalized that Max was just grieving and welcomed anger as a relief from her sadness. Her irritation quelled.

"Max you know more than anyone what Fang and I had," She began lightly, "This can't be all he left for us. Iggy is his closest friend and he sees Gazzy and Angel as his little siblings. He dotes on them. This cannot be it."

A vicious snarl covered Max's face and the flock attempted to turn the conversation from the letter. They could all see clearly that Max had donned her "Kill Face" and was turning her punches towards Nudge. She again reminded herself that Max was upset and would realize later how ridiculous this was.

"Don't try to turn this to them," Max snarled. "I know what this is about. He told me about your dream all those years ago, and how you have always been jealous of our closeness. You shared a cage for what, a couple of months? That doesn't come close to what we had, and it's really insensitive and piggish of you to try to turn the attention away like you always do."

Oh, hell no. Nudge threw all thoughts of holding back her feelings out of the window and released the anger and frustration surging up inside.

"Did he tell you what he said back to me? He said that you would be his best friend forever but I-"

Max interrupted her, bringing her face close enough that she could feel her breath on her cheek. Max's previously beautiful makeup was streaked with tears and her features were balled up in rage.

"He was my heart," Max screamed. "It's not as if the two of you have never been apart! Stop trying to make everything about you."

Another long silence was left as the echoes of Max's shriek resounded into the night. All anger left Nudge, leaving only brokenness. She felt she couldn't have yelled back if she tried. Nudge met her eyes, meeting the heartbreak present that were reflected in her own. Max probably felt the same as Nudge did. A letter was a horrible way to break up with someone, afterall. A great sadness filled her as a realization hit her. She should have realized sooner.

"He was my soul," Nudge whispered, anguish in her voice. "He's the only reason I'm alive right now. He never left without a goodbye and an explanation before you two started dating. Not even once. He almost killed me for leaving the flock that time. But these past few months he changed."

As Nudge spoke the words, she knew how true they rang. He hadn't been the same since prior to their trip to Africa, and meeting Dylan. In fact, he had been acting consistently out of character ever since the flock had seen them kiss on the submarine. She'd chalked it up to the dynamics of the flock changing with the new relationship, but now she began to suspect that it was more. It was as if everything and everyone in the world had been replaced by Max, although he had promised her that nothing would come between them. And before their kiss nothing had. It was part of the reason she'd voted to kick the two out of the flock. She wanted him to see how she'd felt but it hadn't affected him nearly as much as it did her.

"Because he found me," Max smirked, feeling superior and completely missing her point.

"No, because it wasn't Fang. It couldn't be." she reasoned, realizing the truth. Max had been replaced once, why not Fang as well?

She received a blank stare from the flock. Even Angel looked at her as if she was delusional and she could read my mind. She, at least, should understand my reasoning. Max seemed to deflate, a knowing look passing between the members of the flock. As if it were simply denial or some other stupid stage of grief she could be dealing with.

Now only pity and shame filled Max's glance as she wrapped two arms around her. squeezing tight.

"I'm sorry, Nudge. I shouldn't have used you like a punching bag. I just-"

Nudge cut her off by spreading her expansive wings, breaking her tight hold. Tears finally spilled over. She would have no support in this matter. Fang is missing and Nudge was determined to find him with or without the support of the flock. If only I had realized it sooner, Nudge thought. Without another word, she launched herself into the air, tawny wings beating against the windy night. She flew and flew and flew. By the time Nudge stopped it was midday and her wing and back muscles burned and ached more than they'd ever before.

She had no idea where she was. The entire town looked to hold no more than 50 people. It was barely a neighborhood. It was as good a place as any to start looking for Fang. The real Fang. Nudge refuse to believe that it was all in her head. I won't believe it, Nudge thought to herself.

"Forever," she said aloud, before heading to knock on the nearest door.

Somewhere, miles away, she swore she heard an answer. She felt a shift in her soul, a sparkling of hope.

"Cage to grave," a broken, deep voice seemed to whisper in the her head.

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Finally! I updated AND started on the actual plot part of the story. How about them apples, eh? Please review with any questions, comments, or concerns and I will get back to you! Thanks for reading...LonelyBee OUT!


	4. Deafening Silence

**So I've decided to make this a thing. Each chapter is going to be divided with the first half a cute semi-plot related flashback and the second-half is going to be full-on plot advancement lol. In this segment the ages are: Nudge (10), Fang, Max (13), Iggy (12), Gazzy (7), Angel (5). Enjoy, my darlings.**

Nudge sat in her bed, tears of anger and frustration spilling down her round, coffee-colored face. She heard another chorus of laughter erupt from the kitchen and she let out a long, silent scream of frustration into her pillow. She hated when this happened. When she got so angry that she began to cry and then Gazzy and Iggy would tease her and call her _the baby channel_. Idiots. She leapt from her bed and locked the door, sealing herself away from any further teasing or punishment.

She stuffed her thick, chocolate curls into a messy bun and hung upside down from the bed to feel the blood rush into her head. Also, it was interesting how her tears started running backwards. Who was she kidding? No, it wasn't. She was just so _borrreeed. _Thinking of her boredom led to her thinking of the reason she was sitting alone in this stupid room in the first place, causing a new stream of tears to flow down (Up?) her face with her flaring anger.

_Nudge skipped into the kitchen, excited for the upcoming day. Today was strawberry picking day! The strawberries in the field close to their house had finally ripened and the flock had been salivating for fresh strawberries all winter. Now, the peak of spring had come and with it their delectable berries. Nudge could almost feel the sweet juices gushing down her chin now. _

_She'd taken unusual care in her appearance today, deciding to dress up for their little "Holiday". She had washed, conditioned and even (gasp) combed her hair, leaving it in a halo of thick, curly ringlets encircling her head. With it she donned a pair of white overalls with a pink strawberry shortcake camisole. The sweet smell of syrup covered pancakes filled the air and she took in the sweet, oddly domestic scene of Iggy alternating between flipping pancakes and spoon-feeding Gazzy bits of batter when Max turned her head. She and Fang were already at the small table, monster-sized stacks of pancakes on the plates in front of them. _

_Upon her entrance, Iggy nodded in her general direction and said, "Nudge, Pancakes?"_

_All of a sudden her excitement over her adorable outfit, the thought of an actual breakfast instead of cereal with half-spoiled milk, and the upcoming holiday caused what the rest of the flock liked to call a "Nudge Super Blast," to erupt from her vocal chords. Words seemed to spew like a fountain as she rambled absentmindedly for a solid ten minutes, too caught up in her Joy to register the protests of the flock. Finally, Max smacked a piece of duct tape over her lips and banished her to the lonely abyss of her bedroom where she presently sat, furious that it had happened once again._

To be fair, this was her fourth Nudge Super Blast in 24 hours but grounding her for a week seemed to be excessive, even for Max the Know-it-all. Worst of all, she'd miss Pancakes and Strawberry picking. Two of her favorite things in the whole wide world.

Suddenly, a loud knock cut off her thoughts.

"Who is it?" She called, the duct tape muffling her words. Oh, yea she couldn't talk. She thought about ripping off the duct tape but feared the wrath she would incur if Max ever found out. She hastily wiped her tears and opened the door, a look of irritation on her face. Except it wasn't Gazzy and Iggy, but Fang.

"Fang!" She cried. Or tried too, at least. Oh yea, no talking. He laughed at her dismal expression and strut into the room as if he owned the place.

Sitting on the bed, he watched her expectantly as if waiting for her to speak first. She quirked a single eyebrow, essentially asking him, "What the hay he was doing here?"

He shrugged and lounged back on her bed, his ever-growing frame taking up most of the tiny twin bed. She was forced to either squeeze in against him or move off the bed. Well, she was here first so if anyone was leaving, it would definitely be him. She squeezed next to him on the bed, her head uncomfortably wedging into his shoulder and her body balanced on the very edge. His shoulders shook with silent laughter at her annoyed expression and she rolled her eyes before quirking an eyebrow once again. Why wasn't he talking? Was this some sort of game?

He held up a single finger and crept from the room, seemingly making even less sound than usual if that were possible. After fifteen long, anxious minutes, he crept back in. Five wooden baskets were bundled in his arms. Five wooden strawberry baskets. Her heart began to swell as she realized what he was doing. The flock didn't plan on picking strawberries for at least another hour or two. Imagine their surprise when they arrived at the patch and discovered them all already picked. A mischievous gleam shined in Fang's dark eyes. One that was mirrored in her own. She grabbed her own basket from under the bed and crawled out of the hallway window after Fang.

As soon as she touched the soft green grass surrounding their "E" house Fang pulled her close, signaling with a finger to his lips to remain quiet. As if she had a choice. Quickly, Fang pulled the silver duct tape from her lips. She winced but respected his wishes and remained silent. After five minutes of walking in silence she opened her mouth to thank him only to receive the same, "Be Quiet" gesture as before. She was almost offended until she saw the laughter in his eyes. So it was a game.

She suddenly shot out like a rocket, sprinting full speed in the direction of the flower patch. If he could make a game then so could she. She was winning! For once in her life Fang hadn't completely overtaken her within seconds. Wait a strawberry-pickin' second. She swivelled only to see a great, dark mass zoom by overhead. He was cheating! She launched herself into the air, working her tawny wings to catch up to the fast-flying boy ahead. But it was already too late. He'd arrived at the strawberry patch, beating her at her own game. She flew full speed right into fang, knocking him out of the sky and tangling their limbs in the strawberry patch below.

Groaning, he stared at her as if her wings had turned into actual chocolate and sprouted eyeballs.

"What in the-" He began.

Nudge cut him off with a victory cry and ignored her sore and bruised muscles to obnoxiously dance and shout, "I win, I win!"

"You cheated!"

"So did you, doofus!"

They glared at each other before bursting into laughter. Unfortunately, in the fall they had smashed all but one wooden bucket. Whoops. They met eyes and knew what they had to do. They couldn't very well fit it all in one basket, could they?

Two hours later, the rest of the flock arrived at the patch to see Fang and Nudge laying spread eagle in the center of the flower patch, fast asleep. They seemed to be covered from head to toe in Juice and seeds from the strawberries. And for some reason Fang's hair was in a Bun while Nudge's was spread around her in rather majestic halo of curls. It looked as if they had eaten nearly half the field.

Nudge cracked one drowsy eyelid, surveying the scene of livid bird kids before her. Fang had turned her punishment of silence into a fun-filled strawberry covered game, and she had only one thought as Max opened her mouth, ready to unleash her fists of fury on the two indolent kids. Nudge thought back to the brilliant silence that lay between she and Fang prior to falling asleep. It said more of their bond than words could ever hope to.

Nudge cut Max of with a decisive, "Shh!" holding her fingers to her lips. She turned on her side, staring at her protector. Her soul.

"Silence is loud enough," she said, before closing her eyes.

(Present time)

Nudge had spent a week traveling from city to city and state to state, before realizing the futility of her search. Fang could have been taken anytime and anywhere. She couldn't search every corner of the world, it would take too long. So she'd tracked down the flock, who had travelled to Dr. Martinez's house in Arizona while Max licked her wounds. She was determined to convince the others that something was actually wrong and Fang was actually missing. She arrived and, as expected, she was fawned over and thoroughly checked for bruises and violation. She waited no time to attempt to mobilize the flock. If all six of them looked, they were sure to track him down. But they'd only looked at her in exasperation before moving back to their daily lives.

That had been a month ago and the last time she'd said a word to any of her flock members. If they weren't going to help her, further attempt to convince them would only waste her time. She'd written a list of suspects and thoroughly searched each one using her stolen laptop. It appeared that Fang had taken the last one they had and she didn't trust Ella or Dr. Martinez enough to use the ones they kindly offered.

Instead of annoyance, the flock now looked at her with pity. They believed her to be delusional. Given, she currently had no proof but she was on her way she could feel it. Nudge was standing in her closet, going over her notes once again. She'd pinned up a world map covered in newspaper cut outs, comments from Fang's blog, hand-written notes, pictures of Fang, blog posts, and anything she felt could give her a lead on his whereabouts. She had extensively interviewed the flock on his actions but after only a week of questions, they had sworn not to feed her "delusions" any more than already had. That was when she had decided to go mute. She wouldn't talk until they did.

Using her handy-dandy red marker, she drew a large circle around New York City. So far, all roads seemed to be leading to the institute. If she could just sneak back in and extract a bit of information from the database she felt confident she would get closer to the ones who took him.

A soft sigh sounded behind her. She swivelled defensively to see Iggy, leaning against the door of her closet. Defensively, She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Nudge, I…" Iggy began. "I can't take this anymore. It's enough that we've lost Fang, why do we have to lose you too?"

Sorrow filled her chest as she thought of the impact her search has had on her other inter-flock relationships.

"I considered Fang my bestfriend, of course I noticed his change." Iggy rasped, pain evident in his voice. "I can't remember a time when he wasn't there. I mean, our cages were right next to each other for years. I felt pushed aside too when they completely isolated us. They treat me like a kid just because I'm blind but I'm 15 years old too."

Nudge looked away, unable to handle seeing the amount of pain in his expression. The entire flock has been impacted by Fang's absence, she reminded herself. And it pained her to know that she couldn't- wouldn't- comfort them without their help in her cause. Where ever he was, Fang was probably worst off then the six of them combined.

"Please, stop this obsession. This board means nothing, okay? Get it through your head that Fang isn't missing. He chose to leave."

Nudge rolled her eyes, turning away as he attempted the same argument. _Again. _Each flock member had come knocking on her door to pull at her heartstrings. Even Dylan! Although she had to admit, Iggy's was by far the most sincere.

As if he could sense her exasperation, he gave one last desperate plea.

But she had already lost interest, pushing her way past him to sit at her computer. She logged onto her laptop, and checked the flock's bank accounts and the popular news outlets for any strange shot Iggy an irritated look and he angrily stalked out, muttering to himself. A few minutes later, she heard a distant door slam. Finally, she was alone.

Now to put her hacking skills to use. She logged onto her private, secure network and accessed her Skype account to call her only accomplice in the search.

A few rings later, the dark screen lit up with the grubby, acne-covered face of Mike the subway nerd. It had taken her two weeks to track him down, and he was reluctant to help but once she fluffed her hair and bat her eyes he was putty in her hands.

"You're late, sweet cheeks." Mike barked, winking and straightening his battered sonic-the-hedgehog shirt. Nudge held back a gag but forced a smile on her face all the same. She'd rarely flirted before her calls with Mike, but it appeared to come naturally if his "Ga-ga" eyes were anything to go by. She hated to waste it on someone as revolting as Mike but if it got her closer to Fang it was all worth it. "I found a lead on your brother. Remember how I've been tracking his blog's web history and locations of his viewers? Well, I've got one that you should see."

She opened her email and pulled up the file he sent her. He'd made a chart showing number of views based upon location. Most of it was the same data she'd already seen hundreds of times before. Until she noticed _new _views from a small island labeled _unknown. _Well, that was a lead if she'd ever seen one, There were multiple views a day and even a few comments posted from this person. Mostly the general fangirling and "Marry me!" that frequently occurred on his blog.

"But how had they been able to avoid our detection?" Nudge typed in the messenger. "We checked this data about a million times." Although this person had never appeared in the data before, their numbers showed that they had been viewing Fang's blog for forever. So why did it just show up? And from such a strange location. She switched tabs to Google Maps and searched the longitude and latitude of the island. Error filled the screen and her internet auto-shut down.

"They have to be really good to avoid me. One of the best." Mike answered aloud. "They've been monitoring the site since the first day it opened. This is definitely no regular girl, or boy I guess, they have some serious skills."

"Where are they located?" She typed, her mind racing with formulating plans and her heart pumping with the anticipation of getting a possible lead. Perhaps Mike had more success than she. He was, after all, a more experienced hacker than she.

"That's the crazy part. I can't tell! I haven't seen a network this secure since I tried to hack yours!" He said, concern knitting his eyebrows. He wiped sweat from brows on his sleeve as a distant siren sounded through the speakers.

"Crapula!" He screamed, before the screen went black. "Gotta scram!"

Nudge felt breathless, and borderline delirious with the hope of coming just a step closer. She completely forgot about her lead on the institute, instead focusing her energy on finding this _unknown_. Perhaps he or she could lead her to Fang. If anyone could figure out the location of the island, it was her. She began upgrading her firewalls, if this "unknown" were as good as Mike said she'd need all the protection she could get.

_-_-_-_Fang_-_-_-_

(About A Month Ago)

"You call that torture," Fang smirked, rising slowly from his crumpled position on the cold cell floor. He tried to disguise the pain it took the breath by taking slow, careful breaths. He spat a thick glob of blood onto her "Fancy-Schmancy" gold plated heels. She didn't flinch. "Try sitting in a room with the Gasman after a dumpster-diving trip to taco _hell_."

He shuddered mockingly and a sad look filled her beautiful features.

"Wrong answer," She sang with a click of her teeth. The monsters stormed back into the room, this time carrying metal rods in their large grotesque hands. Great, he thought sarcastically. He could only imagine what they'd use those for.

"Make him sorry, boys" She called over her shoulder. He felt a chill overtake him and the clicks of her heel perforated the sickly silence of the monsters. Somehow, the roars of the erasers never inspired the same degree of fear he felt in the shadows of the silence of the monsters.

He found himself thinking of Nudge's words in the strawberry field at their "E" house.

Silence was loud, she had said. She was only partially correct. Silence wasn't just loud. It was deafening.

So, I decided to write this instead of doing homework so please read it lol. I need to know I didn't fail math for nothing. I hoopppeeee you liked it! What do you think of Mike's role in the story? And how about that segment from Fang? Turns out Nudge isnt delusional! I was kinda doubting her, poor thing. REVIEW WITH QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, or CONCERNS.


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